


Chips on the Table

by back2beesness



Series: Winning Hand [1]
Category: All For The Game - Nora Sakavic
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Gen, It is though, because everyone knows andrew is standing in the corner going "oh shit he's hot", fuck Riko, it's what i wish we'd had more of in the book, like really rips riko fuckface a new one, neil just goes off earlier than canon, not andriel but like, shutting riko down, sorry this is super self indulgent but fuck it, what would've happened if neil had met ichirou earlier and struck a bargain
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-06
Updated: 2020-07-06
Packaged: 2021-03-05 04:07:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,615
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25118107
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/back2beesness/pseuds/back2beesness
Summary: What would've happened if Neil had made a bargain with Ichirou earlier, leaving Riko out of the loop. It would really put a dampener on Riko's whole identity reveal surprise, and leave Neil plenty of room to just go to town on him, like we all love. (Or at least I do)
Series: Winning Hand [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1822588
Comments: 9
Kudos: 182
Collections: Andreil





	Chips on the Table

**Author's Note:**

> This is just some self-serving bullshit I had in my brain. It's not a super big canon change, but I really like the idea of Neil embracing who he is and using it to his advantage. Plus I like seeing Riko knocked on his ass. Also there is some heavily implied Jerejean, which I'm not sorry about at all.

As Neil walked into the court in the midst of his teammates, he knew something was wrong the moment he crashed face-first into Matt’s back. Before he could start swearing under his breath, Matt moved a bit to the right, letting Neil see what, exactly had stopped him in his tracks. It was less fear and more exasperation that he felt when he saw Wymack standing, fuming, by their chairs, conveniently set up across from the Ravens. Most of them, apart from Riko, the smirking bastard, looked more like they were attending a funeral than a banquet, faces grim and arms crossed in their black and red suits. 

With a sigh, Neil stepped out from around Matt, still rubbing his nose slightly. He could see Kevin standing frozen to his left, and after a quick glance towards him, he decided to join Dan at the front of the group.

“Shall we?” He asked, glancing in Dan’s direction.

“Damn straight,” she replied, grinning a smile more tinged with exhaustion than anything else. She knew what was coming, but refusing to sit in their assigned spots made them look like bad sports on top of being the lowest-ranked team in the room. It wasn’t exactly a good look. Neil gave her a grim smile in return. It was already looking like it was going to be a bad fucking night, and Riko hadn’t even opened his stupid mouth yet.

Unfortunately, they didn’t exactly have to wait too long for that particular occurrence. They’d barely sat down in their folding chairs when Riko turned his gaze onto Kevin, smiling a shark’s grin.

“So Kevin, what do you say, is the grass really greener? I’d doubt it, given the pissing contest your guard dogs seem intent on starting. Is there a reason you pick them so short? Between Minyard and Josten, you might be able to make a whole person if you stack them.”

Andrew’s teeth were bared from his spot sitting next to Kevin, but he still forced out a painful sounding laugh. “I would say the same thing about you and Long Jean over there, but I suppose your egos take care of that for you, hm? I thought you’d maybe figured out by now that I don’t like it when people mess with my things. Has he always been this dense, Kevin? Too many balls to the head?”

He knocked his own knuckles against his temples, smile stretching too wide for his face. Kevin didn’t answer, seeming to have reverted into himself, like a turtle going into its own shell in the face of danger. Neil couldn’t exactly say he was surprised. Anything short of Kevin begging Riko to take him back could be counted as a victory at this point. It seemed like Riko couldn’t even deign to respond to Andrew, in turn switching his focus back to Kevin, which Neil watched with growing anger.

“It’s funny, for how well your newest protector is trained in knife work, he seems to fall short in the strategy department.” At this point, his head swiveled to Neil, sitting a few seats down, who forced himself to relax despite the ominous look of glee on Riko’s face. 

“Tell me, Neil, what exactly was your plan here? It can’t have been keeping your head down, because if so, you’ve failed rather spectacularly. That stunt at Kathy’s was more than enough to have me send some scouts looking into you. I should’ve recognized you the moment I saw you, but I supposed you did make a good call with the hair dye. Your natural color is a bit…distinctive. Stepping out of the family shadow, are you? Those I suppose not that far. You’re exactly where you were supposed to be, if not hopelessly behind and on the wrong team. If you crawl back now, maybe we can still find a use for you. Or did you think your father ran his operation all on his own? You had to know there’s always a bigger fish, Nathaniel. It seems we both serve the same Master, in the end.”

The look on his face was satisfied enough that Neil wanted to hurl. Kevin, on the other hand, looked like he was genuinely about to be sick. He turned slowly to Neil, horrible realization dawning on his features.

“Nathaniel?” He whispered, “But you’re…you’re supposed to be dead.”

Neil snorted. “Dead, alive, it’s all relative, isn’t it?” He turned to look at Jean, sitting at Riko’s right hand in Kevin’s absence. “By the way, Moreau, no hard feelings for taking my number. I always hated odd numbers. You’re welcome to it. I think the tattoo would’ve looked tacky on me anyways. You almost managed to pull it off.”

He was glad to see the smile fading from Riko’s face. He’d looked like a cat that had just killed a mouse and was dropping it at their owner’s feet, waiting for a response. And Neil was hardly one to back down at such a blatant challenge like that. Not to mention, he was getting pretty fed up with Riko’s endless bullshit at this point. If it was going to be nothing but trite super villain banter, he figured he might as well put a pin in it now, rather than let Riko bathe in his own self-importance for any longer.

He took a slow sip from the water glass in front of him, savoring the moment. He usually hated being compared to his father, but in this way they were the same: brutal. He could do just as much damage, if with less blood and gore. He couldn’t help the grin that split across his face, splintering what was left of his quiet, nobody alias in one quick gesture. He laughed, more cruelly than he’d heard himself in years, before directing his full attention on Riko one last time.

“Christ, you’re stupid, aren’t you? I mean honestly, it’s getting to the point where it’s not even funny how slow you are anymore. It’s just kind of pathetic. Any self-respecting control-freak cult leader would’ve done their research the day they announced my name on the lineup, but you’re so high and mighty you didn’t even consider that I might be a problem, did you? And I thought, surely before coming on that stupid talk show you would’ve done some digging. Wrong again, apparently. Genetics really did a favor for that father of yours, you know, making your brother the oldest. It would be sad if you had been the chosen one, considering how much smarter he was about this than you.”  
He could see Riko’s face paling in what looked to be ever-increasing rage mixed with no small amount of horror.

“See, he came to visit me weeks ago. We struck a bargain. Looks like my life is worth something after all. If you’d been a bit more clever about this, I might’ve put in a good word with him, seen what could be done to help out your whole,” he wrinkled his nose, “situation. But unfortunately, you’ve offended some friends of mine, so I think we’re going to have to put that on ice. But, by all means, keep going with the threatening speech, you were doing great up until the point you found out that you have no leverage. How long did you practice that in the mirror? I suppose genetics failed you on the natural intimidation skills too, huh? Maybe it’s for the best. You should stick to what you’re best at. Being a good little pawn.”

He thought he could hear Aaron choking on his drink a few seats down from Andrew, who’d gone from gleeful silence to downright cackling. Based on the shocked, angry look on Riko’s face, he probably had about thirty seconds before any retaliation came their way, so he was relieved to see a familiar face marching towards their table.

Wymack stopped short at the shocked looks on the faces of his players and the increasingly red-looking Riko, before darting his eyes to look quickly at Neil. He let out a sigh, before going straight into his usual damage control mode.

“Get up mongrels, let’s go. I talked Breckenridge into switching with us. Though God knows the last thing I need is to owe a favor to their coach. Come on, up, move. Jesus, we don’t have all night.” He gave the smallest of nods to Riko for appearance's sake before ushering his fairly shellshocked looking upperclassmen out of their seats, trusting Andrew to handle his lot despite his cloying laughter.  
Neil stood up with the rest of the Monsters, stopping to look over at a fairly disgruntled looking group of well-dressed players shuffling their way from their seats across from the Trojans. He could practically feel Kevin perk up from beside him, despite the near mental breakdown he had been having a few minutes ago. Apparently mob wars paled in comparison to Jeremy Knox. From the way he saw Jean looking over in the same direction, he bet that there’d be at least one other Raven inclined to agree with that particular sentiment.  
Trying to keep his legs from shaking, Neil turned, giving Riko one last long look before dismissing him the way he knew he’d always loathed, turning to follow Kevin towards their new places.

Neil knew he’d have questions to answer later, from the team, Kevin, Wymack, not to mention Andrew the next time he went off his meds. But for now, he had the rest of what was going to be, hopefully, a boring team banquet. And he wouldn’t have it any other way. He’d had enough drama for the year already.


End file.
